(The Last Remnants of) 2018 Reads: Not My Favorites

Hi, Nerdies!

I must be the last person in the blog-world who is still talking about her 2018 reads. But well, I am a slow reader and even a slower blogger, so please bear with me. And, Thank You.

These were books I didn’t enjoy for several reasons, a chunk of them were because something about the stories just didn’t click with me, some because the writing-styles weren’t to my liking, and some because I was obviously not a part of the age-group targeted! Yet I stubbornly read it.

I categorized them based on those reasons I just mentioned! And this recap is not ranking-ordered.

Storyline

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Too Much Hype.

As you’ve probably guessed, this is a trilogy telling about how crazily rich asians live their lives.

First glance, the backstory is so very interesting. As an Asian myself, I know exactly how these rich-richie-super-duper-rich Asians live a strikingly contrasting lives compared to people who belong to a different social status or race. Supposedly, these people are extremely,extremely,EX.TREME.LY extravagant and pretentious.

So I thought these books should be fun and entertaining. (They even made a movie based on this trilogy!)

But, no. I read the first book, and decided to put them down. I rarely, rarely dnfed any book or series, so at least I finished the first book I was already reading.

Honestly I found the narrative unnecessarily prolonged. It was lack of progress and dull. I felt like the story would be much more engaging if it were to be cramped into just one book instead of being extended to fit into three books. Throughout the first book, setting and character-wise, the plot kept switching back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, And. Back. And. Forth., it exhausted me. So I was done.

The Summer I Turned Pretty; We’ll All Have Summer by Jenny Han

Heavy Romance.

This is weird. It’s a trilogy, yet I only read two out of three.

This was how. I read the first book, and as I said, I rarely dnfed any series, so I continued to the next book. And because I was so smart, I jumped into the third book haphazardly instead of picking up the second one orderly. Intentional or not, I skipped it hence I missed it.

Anyway.

I loved loved loved another trilogy by Jenny Han: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. So I figured I would probably love this one too. Especially because this was Han’s older trilogy.

Well, it didn’t suit my taste. I loved the other trilogy because it was sweet, light and refreshing. This one however was too sad, too dramatic, too tragic for my liking.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Too unfair.

This book is about a black marriage in America which has to face racial injustice, be victimized because of it, and to either thrive or crack under its pressure.

Well, I am fully aware that in many stories with persecution theme, it’s hard if not impossible for the victim to get vindicated in any way. But, it’s just way too too painful to read how hard and how futile our main couple’s struggle to collect and mend any pieces left of their shattered marriage, and because of what? Some-external-unjust-reason that shouldn’t even have happened in the first place?

I felt like I should be peacefully shipping them, not devastatingly un-shipping them! Like the way I did Roy and Celestial’s relationship.

But now that I’ve come to think about it again, maybe that was what the writer wanted to evoke from the readers all along! Maybe this book shouldn’t be here at all. #sorry

Writing-style

Underground Railroad

Terrific Story, A Bit Slow Though.

This is a story of a courageous slave who wages her best attempt to escape from a ruthless cotton plantation. Great story!

Unfortunately.

Something I couldn’t put my fingers on held me back from savouring this book. My best guess was the writing-style. The writer has this sort of slow to unravel, a bit on the arcane side, and hard to read story-telling style. But at least I admired the heroine!

Thanks a Thousand by A.J. Jacobs

Intriguing Idea, Monotonous Execution.

This one is a record of Jacobs’s journal on him invoking gratitude feeling by thanking people who contribute in making his cups of coffee. The list runs from a barista to a steel producer.

The message is well delivered. We should be grateful, and gratitude is not an innate thing. In contrast, it can be intentionally cultured and invoked. Yada yada.

As important as the message was, I found this book highly redundant. I kept losing my focus while listening to the writer telling the story of when he was personally thanking various people. I thought there were not enough discerning events in every chapter to separate one version of thanking this person from another account of thanking that person.

Lastly

Age

I am an old lady now.

These were honestly good books, but I was already too old when I read them. The scare didn’t frighten me, the ruses didn’t fascinate me. But I could imagine that I would have enjoyed it ten years back.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

The story takes set in a fantasy world, where rats have ways to communicate, do business, and even emphatize with fellow rats. A girl interestingly named Lady Door would lead you through her search adventure to find out the murderer of her family members and to finally take her revenge.

It by Stephen King

Yes, that IT movie you know is based on this book.

It’s about a haunted city where children keep missing. Some of these children’s bodies are later found dead and horridly incomplete while the rest of the bodies mysteriously disappear. Ironically, adults don’t even bother to question what’s been happening and instead, they let it pass like it is just another daily stuff. Not the living kids though, they have their own suspicion, and eventually some of them are brave enough to prove their hunch.

I’ve covered this in another post, you can check that out if you want: IT -Book Review.

That’s it for now. As always, don’t forget to press like, follow, or kindly leave a comment below, and I’ll see you guys next week!

I will be blogging this whole year on my Travel blog about my last year travels so that means I’m waaay slower… 😆🙈😝

I can’t believe you don’t like Crazy Rich Asians! Okay, I haven’t read the trilogy, although I have all three books, waiting… with many other books, for me for pick them up and read. The movie is a favourite! I love, love, love it! I watched it about eight times already. I can’t wait for the next instalment.

You did so well with your reading last year. I read zero books last year. I started a few but didn’t go far with any. Perhaps, this year will be better. 😊

I agree with you that Neil Gaiman and Stephen King are best appreciated when reading them at a relatively youngish age. Gaiman has many books for adolescents and I cannot now get into them completely. I also would have enjoyed him more if I started reading him as a teenager. Now, it feels like his stories are too fantastical and I have see it all before.

I found the post about your year book review delightful… I’m not sure how you came up in my reader, possibly you’ve been following me… I use to read a great deal, however i didn’t go through that many books in a year, more like one or two… I read to learning how to write an spell above grade three… I have a great deal of interest in some the people which those book are written about or have done the writing themselves, ellen, Obama and President Trump…

Welcome!

Hi, my name is Carissa. I’m a married lady who comes from an archipelago near the south end of Asia continent called Indonesia. Against the widely spread stereotype, I am not a maid, nor an illegal immigrant. I live my life just like you guys do. I read, I write, and I sketch. Enjoy!